Life for Dara

Time

2010-07-16T15:46:00.002+08:00

I just checked my blog and I'm shocked that my last post was to celebrate Liana reaching 6 months. She's now 10 months. My life with her is full of joy but I also have very little time to maintain all of the projects I had before she was born.

Last semester was really brutal. I was constantly taking work home in the evenings and weekends. During exam week, I actually pulled an all-nighter for the first in 15 years in order to get all of my grades entered. I also felt alternately guilty, depressed or angry about all the things undone and how dirty the apartment was.

The next semester is starting in August and I want not be on such an emotional roller coaster. So, I have decided to hire a cleaner to come at least twice a month so that I don't feel angry about all the chores Leo is not doing, or depressed about all the chores I'm not doing. I won't track how much I've spent in various categories in an Excel file. And I'll stop posting on the blog indefinitely. I will keep updating people about what's going on with us and posting pictures but I will be doing it on Facebook. Writing a sentence in the "What's on your mind" box better suits my life than the blog.

When I restart the blog, I'll let you all know... on Facebook.

Six Months

2010-03-08T23:32:00.003+08:00

I know it's a cliche but it's amazing how much she has developed since she came home with us 6 months ago. She now can twist like Chubby Checkers (as long as she's lying down), sit up and has a whole repertoire of expressions. Check out the pictures below.

Mermaids

2010-02-06T21:56:00.003+08:00

Leo and I take turns deciding what we will do during the weekends. Of course, the person who decides also pays for it. This weekend belongs to me. and I have been feeling like we've been rushing around for far too long and I've been spending too much money. I decided that I'm not leaving the neighborhood the entire weekend and the afternoons should be spent at the condo.

Now it is Saturday night and so far it has been a great weekend. Before Leo's evening tennis classes we went down to pool with Liana. At first I put in the really shallow water. She enjoyed it but was not that enthusiastic. Then I took her into the jacuzzi. BUBBLES make everything fantastic. Liana loved being so buoyant in the water. She went nuts splashing around batting the bubbles. It was the most fun I've had in the pool for a long time. Probably since I was a kid.

Putting resolution into action

2010-01-19T12:02:00.004+08:00

Leo and I got a letter labelled ON GOVERNMENT SERVICE. All caps just like that across the front of the envelope. As a letter, wouldn't you feel a bit puffed up to have such a title printed on the envelope?

Leo opened the envelope and called me at work. After 4.5 months the Singapore Government has accepted our application to be Permanent Residents. Provisionally...

The provisional part means that we still have numerous tasks to do before we actually get the new ID cards, such as getting medical checkups for the three of us, filling out numerous forms, getting ID photos, beign fingerprinted, etc.

I enjoy living in Singapore and plan to be here for many more years so I'm glad that the PR application has moved one step along the government bureaucracy. The PR card will open a few benefits for me like a free library card, greatly help Leo in his work by eliminating the need to apply for work permits, and save us a lot of money once Liana starts school. Even though it won't bring me as many benefits as it does Leo and Liana, I'm still glad I have got it. I feel a connection with Singapore and want to have it officially noted.

Jnauary 2010

2010-01-19T11:55:00.002+08:00

One of my perennial resolutions is to keep in better touch with my friends and family. This blog was created to do that. Unfortunately, I keep going through busy periods when I post nothing. Now is definitely one of those periods with so much going on at home with Liana and interesting new developments at work. And the period looks like it has no end. The bright side of having little time is that I have a lot of things to post.

Since I'll never have enough time to write proper posts, I'm just going to post short updates with the occasional picture.

Rosy Hearts Tulip Princess 2009

2009-12-19T22:03:00.001+08:00

Today we all went to Liana's first party. It was thrown by her daycare center. All the kids brought a snack to share and a gift for the Christmas exchange. The dress code is fancy dress (i.e. British for costume party) and the theme was floral. I have been feeling sleep deprived since I had a terrible cold last weekend. At first I didn't even want to go because I felt tired and didn't want to bought together a costume with a floral theme. Radi, Liana's main care giver, put some pressure on me. I caved and went shopping Friday evening (the party's Saturday morning). I bought some grapes for the snack, a teething toy for $10 for the gift exchange and some lavender daisies for $1.80. Friday night Liana went to bed at 11 (her usual bedtime is 8:30) because she had terrible wind and spit up 4 times. I went to bed at almost 1 am. Saturday morning I wake up at 7, hunt up a vaguely Christmasy gift bag, wash the grapes and sew some daisies on a headband. Presto, we are ready to party in less than 30 minutes. Of course, I haven't showered, and nobody is dressed or has had breakfast, but we are still ready to party and Liana looks adorable. The dress is from Grandma Jo. Thanks Mom.

At the party there is a costume parade. Leo leads Liana out. She charms the crowd and is crowned Rosy Hearts Tulip Princess 2009. She got a sash, crown and a wrapped prize 2 times bigger than her head, which we are saving to Christmas to open.

The Rosy Hearts Tulip Princess 2009

Liana receiving her crown.

The Tulip Princess is nonplussed about all the attention. (Note that I am also in the floral theme. I would have worn flowers too but I had no stretchy head band to sew them too. )

The MLC

2009-11-21T17:40:00.001+08:00

Liana is now drinking from a bottle with ease. We have no idea why she stopped wanting the bottle and then just as suddenly accepted it again. We now refer to her sometimes as the MLC -- mysterious little creature. Now that she can take a bottle I feel much more relaxed about returning to work in the next few weeks. I would have hated to think of her crying because she was hungry and stubborn about the bottle.

Liana has also had all of her shots. At the pediatrician, Liana screamed the loudest of all the kids. She even startled the doctor. I felt absurdly proud of her.

Pudding's new perch

2009-11-21T17:15:00.003+08:00

We bought a new TV cabinet because the one the landlady had was very rickety and without doors. A pint-size baby could have pulled it over. Since Liana is also very fond of grabbing things and Pudding is fond of chewing on wires, we also thought it would be a good idea to put all of the electronics someplace neither one could get at them.

Pudding likes the cabinet because it allows him access to a place that was previously beyond him. He used to get so frustrated because geckos would scamper up there temptingly out of reach. He stays up there all day -- sleeping, washing and generally lording it over all of us down below.

Liana playing with bunny

2009-11-21T16:52:00.003+08:00

We've noticed that Liana is able to see much better now and has more control over her hands. She's always been waving them around but now she is grabbing a hold of things with decision rather than just coming across something mid-wave. She grasps the end of her t-shirt and tries to bring to her mouth, and bashes the animals on her rocker mobile. She pinches Leo when she's getting upset although she probably didn't decide to do that. Before this Liana never showed much interest in playing with toys. Now she particularly likes the bunny Grandma Jo bought her. I think it is all the textures. The bunny is fuzzy and the blanket part is soft velour with a satin lining. She grabs it, rubs it across her face and then tries to chew it. I like in this picture how the small bunny completely covers her with some to spare.

Liana at 2 months

2009-11-06T16:15:00.000+08:00

Liana has reached two months and has a new expression as a present. Her new happy expressions certainly make up for her increased fussiness. When she was 4-6 weeks old she accepted everything. Even a bottle straight from the fridge was OK. Now she often refuses a bottle even when she is hungry. I nurse her when she refuses the bottle but I worry about how Leo and the day care will cope once I return to work at the end of the month. Hopefully the fussiness will go away in the next few weeks.

Helping Liana sleep

2009-11-01T13:45:00.000+08:00

Liana has started fussing when she gets tired. Before she would simply fall asleep during the day, now we have to help to sleep. She's also close to 5 kg now which means it is very tiring to carry, bounce and rock her to sleep. Fortunately Leo remembered his mom wearing his nephew around the house in sarong. Now either Leo or I have one of my sarongs looped around our chests when we carry Liana. The cloth limits her movement and she starts to get sleepy that much faster. The picture on top is Liana as she is about to relax into sleep after wearing herself out crying. The bottom is the much happier Daddy with a less fussier baby.

Always Something New

2009-10-29T15:25:00.002+08:00

A few posts ago I wrote the trite but true statement that babies change so fast. Then I wrote it with a sense of wonder. Now it is tinged with a bit of exasperation. This week I feel that Liana is one step ahead of me. As soon as I feel that I have a grasp on taking care of her and can relax a bit without worrying about coping, she changes. I used to know all of her cries and could easily tell that she was hungry and needed to nurse. Never used to think about getting her to sleep -- she slept when she felt like it.

Now we have to help her sleep. This also means that we have another level of meaning to her cries: Is she hungry, windy, feeling a bit lonely or sleepy? It's like the first week when I brought her home. She cries and I go through the checklist of checking her diaper, offering her milk, cuddling her or burping. I'm realizing that I was a bit cocky before.

A smile

2009-10-24T07:28:00.001+08:00

Liana at 7 weeks old: Smiling!

Both Liana and I have reached a milestone. Liana has started smiling for us regularly. It is heartwarming to get one of her smiles every morning when I pick her up. We took her to the pediatrician for immunizations and learned that she is in the 97th percentile in size. That means that at 4.88kg (10.7 lbs) and 57.8 cm (22.8in) she is larger than 97% of the other babies her age. As you can see in the picture she is definitely much chubbier than she was before.

My milestone is that I bathed her all by myself. Before Leo and I bathed her together every night but now Leo is back to coaching at the tennis school. I have been able to bath her myself but so far I haven't been able to bath her, put her to bed and clean up the bathroom before Leo gets home.

Liana at 1 month

2009-10-10T16:00:00.002+08:00

Liana has crossed a developmental milestone. She has different cries for her needs. For instance, she grizzles. I found this word in my baby week-by-week book from the library. It describes a cry that is not a full-fledged 'I want milk' or 'Change my diaper.' It is more of a cross between a cry, moan and whimper when she wants to cuddled. Here she is grizzling for my Dad.

Liana at three weeks

2009-09-25T17:49:00.001+08:00

Here's our girl relaxing in her rocker before her evening walk. For the past week she has been a big feeding binge. She always seemed to be hungry. Today she's very mellow and sleeping a lot. Possible growth spurt might be on the way.

Pudding hiding out

2009-09-25T17:46:00.001+08:00

Ever since we brought Liana home, Pudding has been spending a lot more time in the cubby hole of his cat tree. We think Liana intimidates him. He has never met anything noisier than him.

baby on the go

2009-09-25T17:31:00.002+08:00

Here in Singapore woman practice confinement the first month their baby is born. During confinement, neither the mother nor the baby leaves the house unless there is a very good reason like seeing a pediatrician. Mothers also eat special food like herbal soup and dishes with lots of young ginger. Some mothers don't even shower during confinement. Instead they take sponge baths.

I've been taking Liana out every day. People always ask the typical baby questions -- boy or girl? how old? When I say that she's three weeks, people are suprised, especially the Chinese, that she is out of the house so young.

Liana goes with me shopping, to places of officialdom like the embassy and Immigration Authority and to the park. We go to the park everyday. I think that she's the better for it. She's often fussy in the late afternoon (but not colicky, thank goodness). But when I pop her into the baby bjorn and go out for a 30 minute walk, she settles down, relaxes and then goes to sleep. Our walks make the evening much calmer.

Getting stronger

2009-09-16T10:43:00.002+08:00

People told me that newborns change quickly but I was not expecting so many changes with Liana within just a week. Already she has become much more adept at using her body. She is more able to get her mouth in the correct position for breast feeding and she can grip things much more tightly. She can also show her emotions more readily on her face and her eyes are focused most of the time (when they are open.) I know it has been said by probably every mother, but I have to put it in my blog. Sometimes the trite expressions sum things up the best. Babies are truly wondrous little beings.

Liana meets the world

2009-09-14T11:09:00.004+08:00

After a bit of a delay, our daughter arrived on September 4, 2009 at 2:08 pm. At birth she's 3.55kg or 7.8lbs and 53 cm or 20.9in. She's healthy and a very good eater. She's already putting on weight and is much stronger. She's also acquired new expressions. At first she had only two expressions -- surprised and furious. Now she has a range -- surprised, furious, blissfully milk drunk, intent and happy. Most of the pictures below were taken the first few days.

With Grandma Jo

Dara, Liana and Leo

Kid, this is sunshine

2009-09-02T14:25:00.002+08:00

Leo and I visited the doctor today. The baby is doing very well but is not really indicating a strong desire to come out and see the world so we scheduled an induction for Friday morning. Ready or not, kid you are going to see the sunshine by the weekend.

As part of the check, the doctor checked the baby's heartbeat with the CTG machine. The machine tracks contractions at the same time. In the 30 minutes the machine measured the baby's heartbeat, I had 4 contractions. I didn't even know I was having contractions. I asked Leo to tell me when the contraction line spiked so that I could know what they felt like -- nothing at all like what I expected or how others described it. It felt like the squeeze from a blood pressure cuff except that the squeeze moved from my midsection down to my pelvis. No doubt they will get more intense. However, I'm glad that something is happening.

Still waiting

2009-09-01T21:18:00.003+08:00

I keep thinking that I will have some big news to post on the blog... but the baby has not decided it's time. Tomorrow we are going to the doctor to discuss what happens next.

The good part is that my mom is arriving tonight and can be at the birth.

Marking

2009-07-21T23:28:00.003+08:00

I have been marking essays for about 2 weeks straight. I'm involved in a project to create a computer-based program that helps students find their grammar errors and figure out how to correct them. My involvement consists of reading about 90 first drafts, highlighting every mistake with the mouse, categorizing the mistake and typing in the correct version. More often than I'd like, I'm making an educated guess about the correct version. I'm also involved in marking about 90 placement tests.

I find that it's not the language mistakes that bother me the most. Most of the test takers don't use English as their first language. What bothers me are the poor thinking skills. These students are in university but I doubt that they could construct a logical argument in any language. Haven't they figured out that most things aren't absolute? I'd like to ban these words and phrases:

We all know...
...always...
...never...
There's no doubt that...
Well, isn't it true that...
Surely we all remember that...

Leo's new job

2009-07-12T13:10:00.003+08:00

Leo just signed a short-term contract to coach at the Tanglin Tennis School. He's looking forward to coaching there because the students are all youth that show promise so he can work on a higher level of performance. He's already practicing his feeding techniques so he can get the ball to the student faster and more accurately. When he tried some of the tennis school drills on his regular students, he had them gasping after 30-45 minutes. The tennis school kids last for 2 hours. The other plus is that the work is regular -- five hours, five evenings a week and he is paid rain or shine. The extra money will come in handy with the baby coming. He'll still coach his regular clients on the weekends or mornigs. The boss is willing to offer a long-term contract if the Ministry of Manpower approves Leo's work application.

latest ultrasound

2009-07-05T11:00:00.003+08:00

Leo and I visited the doctor last Friday and got the 32nd week ultrasound. The baby is reassuringly average and has gotten into the proper head-down position. She's also looking much more like a chubby baby. At the last one she looked kind of like a wizened gnome.

30 weeks

2009-06-28T08:06:00.001+08:00

I'm definately getting bigger now. I almost always get a seat on the bus or train. Actually I'm getting so big that it took several photos before I got one that I liked well enough to put up on the web. Leo has been my long-suffering photographer.

Feeling Singaporean

2009-06-14T09:36:00.003+08:00

Last weekend Leo and I went on a mini holiday to Kuala Lumpur where we spent most of the time in shopping malls buying baby stuff. I felt very Singaporean going on holiday and spending almost all my time shopping or eating. When we came back, I did another Singaporean thing -- telling all my friends about the good deals I got and describing in detail the food I ate!

Maybe this behavior is a sign because Leo and I decided to apply for permanent resident status. We both like it here and feel it is a good place to raise children. That's more than enough commitment to fill out a form and collect all the documents needed. Applying for permanent residency is not as troublesome as getting a green card in the US but we still assembled a sheaf of documents an inch thick to support the application. Unfortunately, a lot of people must want to apply for PR status now because the earliest appointment we could get to submit the documents is early September. At least by then the baby will be born so we can include her in the application too.

Third trimester

2009-06-06T18:59:00.000+08:00

This week baby and I entered the third trimester. I was going to put a picture of myself up as I entered the third trimester. I deleted the pictures though -- they just don't look like me. Instead you get a picture of Sleepy Pudding making a nuisance of himself as I'm trying to pack for our trip to Malaysia. Leo and I are starting to get serious about preparing for her arrival. Today we attended our first pre-natal class on giving birth. I think I'm going to be thankful that Leo has been learning massage techniques in his physiotherapy work. Tomorrow we are heading to Kuala Lumpur for a baby-buying spree. When we come back on Wednesday, we hope to visit a nearby daycare center that offers emergency infant care.

We've also got a short list of names. We're not going to pick one until our girl arrives, but you can see where we are headed. Any comments?

English given names: Liana, Miri, Leona, Catrina
Chinese given names: Shumin, Shanyi

Her complete name would be in this order: Liana Siaw Shanyi

New laptop

2009-05-31T09:54:00.002+08:00

Leo and I finally got around to buying a new laptop after talking about it for ages. We were actually forced into it because the old one ran out of memory and then stopped functioning when the internet was on.

Our new computer is an Acer Aspire 4935G. We got a good deal on it and some nice bundled software from the university. Part of the bundle was Adobe Creative Suite. I have always wanted it but never bought it because of the price (almost $1000 in Singapore dollars). I also love that the keyboard on my new computer is so large. It bettered my typing enormously. The third thing I love is the speed and memory. The old computer took three minutes to boot up and was constantly giving messages that virtual memory is low.

The last thing I love is that Leo is here to go shopping with me. He is really good at keeping track of all the stats when comparison shopping. It was 10 times easier buying this computer than my previous one.

Baby registry

2009-05-31T09:46:00.002+08:00

Some people asked whether I was going to set up a baby registry. I said no but it was mostly because I didn't think there was one in Singapore. Most Asians tend to give cash in red envelopes, not physical gifts.

However, last night I found one that is great for people in the US. You can pay by credit card (note prices are in Singapore dollars -- they will be lower in US$) and the items will be delivered to me. The only drawback is that there is a limited selection of things to choose from.

Check out our choices at www.babywishes.com.sg. Search using "Dara" or "Leo Siaw".

Dara and baby at 25 weeks

2009-05-29T03:44:00.000+08:00

Leo snapped this picture of me on the Vivocity outdoor deck. Not a bad setting, especially since Vivocity is a shopping mall!

I look much more pregnant if viewed from a side angle, but my eyes were closed in that photo.

More baby news

2009-05-16T10:16:00.002+08:00

Everything has started progressing much more rapidly. I look at the photos in my last blog and I feel like they were taken several months ago instead of just last month. Here's an update:

I'm showing now. I occasionally get seats offered to me on the bus.
Leo and I found out that we are having a baby girl.
We have a short list of 4 English names, but we are still working on the Chinese name. Rest assured, non-Mandarin speakers -- we will choose one that you can pronounce.
I finally felt my baby move during a pre-natal massage two weeks. I was wondering if something was wrong because I couldn't feel the baby move. I guess she likes massages. I signed up for a package so she can get one every two weeks.
Leo and I met with the obstetrician last Thursday. She's American and used to practice in Tacoma (a city very near Seattle for the non-NWers). It was a bit odd to speak to another American who doesn't teach English. She spoke very fast and changed topics with only a little warning.

Leo and I are going to the Botanic Garden for a free concert Sunday evening. I'll ask him to take a picture of me to post on the blog.

Dara and baby at 20 weeks

2009-04-12T10:15:00.001+08:00

This weekend I went shopping for maternity clothes. Here are some pictures of the results. If I was wearing normal clothes, I would like more pregnant.

Pregnancy outfit 2: Pudding the cat roused himself from his nap to see what the fuss was about. Find the cat.

My Mom sent me the top below from the US. The jeans are new.

Expecting...

2009-04-05T16:24:00.004+08:00

Leo and I are expecting our first baby at the end of August. So far parents-to-be and baby are doing well. We go for the 5 month ultrasound at the end of this month. We are both looking forward to seeing how it looks, moves around, etc. Hopefully, we will also learn the sex so that I can give a proper human pronoun. I don't know why this should bug me so much, but it does.

I'm sorry that it has taken me so long to announce it. I have been thinking off and on for the past few weeks about how to announce my pregnancy on my blog. This type of announcement seems better suited to less new-fangled means of communication. It feels awkward giving news about major life events like marriage, pregnancy, birth and death in a somewhat public forum. It's OK to innudate the world at large with trivia, but life-changing ones should receive special treatment. Fortunately, my blog does not receive much readership so it's probably not as public as I might fear.

Now that the ice is broken, I'll be updating you more often on how things are going.

Wish us luck. We are very very new at this.

Working too much

2009-03-29T20:23:00.003+08:00

I know I have not been posting much. This past semester has been incredibly busy. For the first time, I have been bringing work home every weekend. I can't wait until the semster is over -- I only have 3 more weeks to go.

I remind myself that at least I am only busy during the semester and it only lasts for 12 weeks twice a year. A lot of people in Singapore have to keep this up year around.

Assimilation

2009-03-01T09:46:00.002+08:00

Last week I wrote a midterm test for my pre-matriculation students. The text for the comprehension test was on the five stages of culture shock: honeymoon stage, hostile stage, acceptance stage, reverse culture shock. The acceptance stage is basically acknowledging that people do things differently without thinking its wonderfully exotic (honeymoon) or wrong and in need of correction (hostile). Reverse culture shock is when things about a person's home culture seem wonderfully exotic or wrong and in need of correction. I've been in the acceptance stage for a long time but recently realized when I watched Benjamin Button that I've begun to slip toward reverse culture shock. In one scene, the daughter is reading Button's journal to her dying mother in a hospice. She's sitting in an uncomfortable chair so she gets up and sits on the unoccupied bed next to her mother. Then she puts her feet (still in boots) on the bed. My reaction: I cringed and thought, "Eww, that's so disgusting. She should know better especially in a hospice."

While I have certainly complained about plenty in the US, I have never had this instinctive reaction that a common American custom is dirty. I haven't realized that I had assimilated some of Asian culture. It's a bit unnerving.

Chinese New Year 2009

2009-02-02T20:40:00.001+08:00

Our condo invited a lion dance troupe to perform and bring good fortune for the new year. The payment always has three 8's. Leo estimates that this one probably cost $888 for 15 minutes. He took these pictures.

Lion dancers on stilts. The musicians are down below.

View of the dancers underneath.

God of Fortune distributing chocolate to the kids.

Mandarin classes

2009-01-18T10:35:00.002+08:00

I've started to take Mandarin classes 2 evenings this week. I don't know why I have decided to add this to my already overloaded plate, but I'm managing. All the students are managing more or less. The vocabulary reflects our lives. I can now say "I am tired" and "We are busy." The only other adjectives I know are "good," "tall" and "short."

Singapore Biennale 2008

2008-11-29T23:35:00.006+08:00

A few weekends ago my friend Soon Fen and I went to see the artwork at the Biennale. It's an exhibit of contemporary art held every 2 years. Most of the work is site specific and displayed in unused public buildings. I really enjoyed this show. Soon Fen and I went on both Saturday and Sunday because it was so large (3 venues) and we enjoyed the first day so much. The site-specific element was one reason I liked it. I felt like an eyewitness to the art because it was displayed in the context the artist intended. When I visit an art museum I feel more detached. I also liked being able to walk completely around the art or even through it. Several artists used this to play with perspective. You can see it in the pictures of Blackfield below. From one side all of the flowers are black. It looks very post-catastrophe. As I walked toward the other side the flowers began to change to cartoon color. All of the flowers are angled so that the color seems to flow over the field as I walked closer to the opposite end. Unfortunately, you can't get a sense of the scale of the work in the pictures. It had 10,000 flowers in a field of 100 square meters. All in all, it took up 1/2 of a very large room.

Blackfield

Teratoma II: War of the Worlds

Slipper Forest

Felice Varini Project: Drill Hall

Time to VOTE

2008-11-02T19:12:00.002+08:00

I have my absentee ballot in my bag all ready to be mailed when I go to work tomorrow. At first this election promised to a significant one because it started so early and had an African American and a woman battle for the nomination of a major party. Unforeseen events like the meltdown in the financial markets and almost all other parts of the global economy have only increased its magnitude. One thing that hasn't changed much are the slippery facts that politicians disseminate in order to win. Make sure you haven't fallen victim to the spin. Check non-partisan, non-profit FactCheck.org before you vote.

Playing catch-up

2008-11-02T18:36:00.004+08:00

I noticed that I put up one post in October. It was an incredibly busy month because it contained most of the the second half of the semester when all of my students started submitting their work. I have been marking a few essays every night to try to keep up. Fortunately, there is only one more week of class left. That's one of the great things about teaching. I'm incredibly busy during term time, but there only two terms and each is only 13 weeks long. I have to remind myself that the level of busyness in my job really isn't all that bad.

Leo and I have also been able to have some fun too. A few weeks ago we went to a dance performance by Nederlands Dans Theater. They are one of the preeminent dance companies in the world, especially in modern dance. Their performance was powerful -- both physically, creatively and emotionally. I especially liked how they combined light displays and multimedia into the performance. I often think avant garde lighting and multimedia detract from the overall dance performance because the audience often ends up paying too much attention to them. In the show we saw though, they were very organic and emphasized the dancers' movements rather than the other way around. This link will take you to the Nederlands Dans Theater website where you can see videos of their performances.

This weekend we saw Burn after Reading, the new Coen Brothers movie. The performances by Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Frances McDermond were hilarious. It was especially fun to see Brad Pitt and George Clooney NOT playing their usual type of characters.

Our new apartment

2008-10-12T15:53:00.003+08:00

Our new apartment is finally more or less the way we like it. Our landlady removed her things so we have been able to put up our pictures. I took a few photos so you can see how it turned out.

Living room and view of nature preserve next door
Living room going into kitchen
The small kitchen
Looking down at pool from our apartment

Pictures from Bali

2008-09-21T14:33:00.004+08:00

Last July we went to Bali for 1 week to attend my friend Arania's wedding. Here are some photos from our sightseeing.

Leo and I went for a walk through the rice paddies near Ubud. We fortunately ran into Wayan, a local river guide, out for a walk. Without him we would have gotten completely lost.

A local politician and member of the Ubud royal family had died just before we came to Bali. The whole town and all surrounding villages were involved in preparing for the cremation. These men are decorating an enormous pyramid that the dead man's body would be burned in.

These ladies are wearing traditional Balinese clothes and taking offerings to the temple for the cremation ceremony.

We took a cooking class too. This is me pounding herbs, spices and chillies together. When we got back to Singapore, Leo bought a smaller version of these grinding stones. The grinding is a lot of work so when he makes the paste, we have Balinese food for several days.

Leo being a monkey in the shrine in Monkey Forest.

Leo's job interview

2008-09-21T14:18:00.002+08:00

Last Saturday, Leo went for a interview with a local company. It is one of two companies that actively coach in schools. For the interview, he had to give a lesson to 6 teenagers while the boss coached another group nearby. Leo impressed the boss with his ability to handle a group and he was offered a position. It's a good opportunity for him because he'll also be able to be part of the Singapore Sports Council Youth program and coach junior level players. You can see more at http://www.tennisolution.com/aboutus.html

Singapore field trip

2008-09-16T22:10:00.004+08:00

Leo and I and some friends went on a food excursion to Joo Chiat Street, which has been known for its great cafes for a long time and recently for its art galleries. Here are some pictures I took that afternoon.

From a shop making gifts for the dead like this house for the dead. They are burned during Hungry Ghost month

One of the art galleries we visited

Weird sign but suits Singapore's food scene

Uh, not exactly

2008-09-06T14:35:00.002+08:00

At the conventions both presidential candidates tried to define themselves and explain how they will change America for the better. Unfortunately, they don't always get the facts straight. Here's a summary from Factcheck.org. Check out the website for the full analysis www.factcheck.org.

McCain
He made some flubs in accepting the nomination.

Summary
Factcheck checked the accuracy of McCain’s speech accepting the Republican nomination and noted the following:

McCain claimed that Obama’s health care plan would "force small businesses to cut jobs" and would put "a bureaucrat ... between you and your doctor." In fact, the plan exempts small businesses, and those who have insurance now could keep the coverage they have.
McCain attacked Obama for voting for "corporate welfare" for oil companies. In fact, the bill Obama voted for raised taxes on oil companies by $300 million over 11 years while providing $5.8 billion in subsidies for renewable energy, energy efficiency and alternative fuels.
McCain said oil imports send "$700 billion a year to countries that don't like us very much." But the U.S. is on track to import a total of only $536 billion worth of oil at current prices, and close to a third of that comes from Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom.
He promised to increase use of "wind, tide [and] solar" energy, though his actual energy plan contains no new money for renewable energy. He has said elsewhere that renewable sources won’t produce as much as people think.
He called for "reducing government spending and getting rid of failed programs," but as in the past failed to cite a single program that he would eliminate or reduce.
He said Obama would "close" markets to trade. In fact, Obama, though he once said he wanted to "renegotiate" the North American Free Trade Agreement, now says he simply wants to try to strengthen environmental and labor provisions in it.

Palin
Palin trips up on her facts

Summary
Sarah Palin’s much-awaited speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night may have shown she could play the role of attack dog, but it also showed her to be short on facts when it came to touting her own record and going after Obama’s.

Palin may have said “Thanks, but no thanks” on the Bridge to Nowhere, though not until Congress had pretty much killed it already. But that was a sharp turnaround from the position she took during her gubernatorial campaign, and the town where she was mayor received lots of earmarks during her tenure.
Palin’s accusation that Obama hasn’t authored “a single major law or even a reform” in the U.S. Senate or the Illinois Senate is simply not a fair assessment. Obama has helped push through major ethics reforms in both bodies.
The Alaska governor avoided some of McCain’s false claims about Obama’s tax program – but her attacks still failed to give the whole story.

Obama fared better than either McCain or Palin although Obama was not entirely on the straight and narrow. Factcheck found that "He stuck to the facts, except when he stretched them."

Changes in the new semester

2008-08-21T10:55:00.003+08:00

This semester there have been a lot of changes in the courses I teach, especially Academic Writing in Engineering. It has a new textbook, grading scheme and materials. It has been a bit tricky using the new textbook. It has a lot of text in it, which is good because it will easier for the students to use it as a reference. On the other hand, all that text slows down the pace in the class and decreases student interaction. I have been putting more discussion questions related to the readings and the learning objectives into the class to increase the energy and divide the tutorial time into several short Q&A sessions. It's better but not completely successful.

Semester has begun

2008-08-17T11:52:00.002+08:00

I checked out my friend Sara's blog. She's starting her MBA study and described her life as running around like a chicken with its head cut off. (Odd simile for vegetarian.) My life is very similar for the same reason. The NUS semester started last week and now I will be involved in a cycle of tutorial prep, marking and conferencing until November. I have more this semester because one of my courses, Academic Writing for Engineers, was extensively revised with quite a lot of input from me. This means that I have to prep all my classes rather than relying on last semester's plans. However, even though I'm 10 times more busy, I'm glad the students are back. I'm looking forward to seeing how if the revisions in the course and materials will be effective and get positive feedback from the students and other lecturers.

More from Seattle

2008-06-28T01:48:00.009+08:00

Theses are a few pictures that Leo and I have taken around Seattle and the Olympic Peninsula.

Belly dancers at Fremont's Solstice parade

Leo in front of Mt Rainier's Nisqually River

Self-portrait at Hurricane Ridge

Self-portrait at Chateau Ste Michelle winery

Father's Day in Seattle

2008-06-15T12:59:00.003+08:00

My sister came to Seattle for Father's Day weekend. We've seen a lot in the past two days and Leo has been inducted into Seattle life -- seafood, coffee, nature and microbrews. This is a picture of my Dad, sister and Leo at the beach near Deception Pass. As you can tell, it's warmed up a little but the temperature hasn't gone higher than 65 F.

Shivering in Seattle

2008-06-12T21:56:00.002+08:00

It's 60 F for my first two days in Seattle. I feel as if I have arrived in winter rather than the beginning of summer. Although I love Seattle, I miss the warmth of Singapore.

Leaving for Vietnam tomorrow

2008-05-24T16:03:00.003+08:00

Tomorrow I leave for a week to go to Vietnam on an academic exchange with 11 of my colleagues. We are going to Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho to visit 7 Vietnamese universities. Each of us will give a 20 minute presentation on teaching English and the Vietnamese teachers will also give presentations. The idea is to build stronger contacts between our Center and other tertiary English teaching institutions in the area and find out more about Vietnamese students since a lot of Vietnamese come to NUS for post-grad studies.

My presentation is about slightly different way to teach process writing. Process writing is basically teaching people to write in a systematic step-by-step fashion. A lot of students don't do it though because they think it is time-consuming. It is, but then good writing takes time and the process writing approach almost always improves an essay's organization and development while limiting writer's block. My idea is that the students would be more motivated to write and better understand the benefits of process writing if the teacher models it for them by writing her response to the assigned prompts. I tried it out a bit last semester with 200-300 word mini-essays and it seemed to be a more effective way to explain process writing. I haven't finished my research into this but since the presentation is short, I plan to use what I have anyway.

The trip is jam-packed with 3 cities and 7 universities in a week but fortunately almost every evening is free and my work friends and will get a chance to try all the Vietnamese and French food. One of them used to work in Vietnam before so she knows several good places.

Urban hiking

2008-05-24T15:48:00.002+08:00

Every Thursday some colleagues from work and I go walking. This Thursday we decided to try a new park connector that opened a week ago. The total length one-way is 9 km but we only did about 7km. Most park connectors seem to be a designated sidewalk with a few trees planted alongside. This one felt like a long narrow nature preserve. The only times we could really see buildings were when we were on top of a hill or crossing a road on an overhead bridge. The overhead bridges even seem natural. On the Henderson Waves bridge we walked on wood planks that were built to mimic gently undulating waves. One of our favorite connectors is Hort Park. It is more cultivated than the rest, but it is designed to show people how they can bring more green into their homes. One feature was a giant putty wall covered with ferns, orchids and other crevice plants. Most people think of Singapore is a very dense urban environment. It is but with park connectors like this I experience more of nature than I did in any other city.

Semester is almost over

2008-04-27T21:42:00.003+08:00

I have almost finished my first full academic year at NUS. My final task is marking 45 exams over the next 3 days. 15 exams a day is not terribly demanding so I'll have plenty of time to reflect on the past two semesters. It's been a very busy but rewarding year. Rewarding enough that I'll probably spend most of the time thinking about the next semester. I suppose that's the definition of a rewarding job -- always thinking ahead to the next task and enjoying those thoughts.

I will be taking a break to relax though and probably won't be thinking about work much during it. Leo and I are renting a car and going to Malaysia for 4 days to visit friends, go shopping, close bank accounts and bring more of our stuff back to Singapore. The cat gets to spend the 4 days at the Pet Farm. We'll have to bring him back a nice treat.

The top 100 wedding photos

2008-04-14T16:51:00.006+08:00

I have finally finished sorting through the 1300+ photos that the photographer sent and narrowed them down to a top 100. You can see the album by clicking on the slideshow below.

We're changing the name of the cat

2008-03-30T13:57:00.002+08:00

Now that we've had our cat for several months, we've realized that he's been misnamed. The SPCA called him Zorro on account of the furry black mask he has around his eyes. You can see half of it in the picture. However, the Zorro of movies and storybooks was full of daring-do and action. Although our cat catches more than his share of geckos and bugs, he's not full of the more famous Zorro's zip. In fact, he spends most of his day like he is in the picture -- napping. Even when he craves attention, he doesn't murmuringly mew something sweet that would cause a girl to swoon. Instead, he meows insistently and flops at our feet. This is why, we've decided that a much better name for him would be SLEEPY PUDDIN' or PUDDIN' for short.

New position for me in 2009

2008-03-15T11:11:00.004+08:00

I learned at work that next year I'll be given a new job in addition to my teaching. In 2009 I'll be the Materials Developer for a pre-matriculation course for Chinese (PRC) students. It's a huge undertaking because the course has 800+ classroom hours over a year and a half. As a comparison, a standard semester course has only 48 classroom hours. Fortunately, the course has been running for a number of years already so I won't have to develop everything from scratch. I'll also have 3 rather than 4 classes to teach. The pre-matriculation course begins January 2009 but I'll no doubt be very busy in November and December so those in the US can expect to see Leo and I this summer.

I can stay in Singapore forever

2008-03-09T15:12:00.002+08:00

I love Singapore but I was unsure if Leo and I could stay here after I finish my current contract. When I first arrived last July, rentals had begun to skyrocket. Although my work gives me a housing allowance, it only covers the cost of renting a furnished room. With the help of a real estate agent, I managed to find a nice, furnished and undervalued apartment that is affordable. Unfortunately, the apartment is far from the university so I have a 90 minute commute one-way. It was also sold to developers a few months after I moved in, which means that we would have to find a new apartment by June. I had been lucky to find the first apartment and now Leo and I had to find a new one with the same amount of money and even more expensive rentals.

A few weeks ago, I got a surprise letter from the university which increased my housing allowance by almost 75%. Such a godsend! We'll be able to pick and choose exactly what features we want. I can be near the university and Leo can have a tennis court for his work. The university will give this allowance for 9 years. By that time, we'll be able to save up enough to buy a condo.

Happy Chinese New Year!

2008-02-03T16:54:00.000+08:00

Chinese New Year is only 3 days away and everyone is out buying food for the reunion dinner on CNY Eve or preparing to take a bus back to their hometown where someone in their family is out buying food. Leo and I are also in the thick of preparing for our first CNY. Leo is bringing from Malaysia pistachios, pineapple tarts and bak wa, which are thin slices of pork dipped and preserved in a sweet spicy BBQ-like sauce. I spent what felt like hours in line at the shops to buy decorations, almond bread, Chinese cabbage, and keropok, which are deep-fried prawn chips. A friend gave us waxy duck sausage for fried rice. When Leo arrives on Tuesday, we are braving the crowds again to get fish, prawns, lotus root and a box of mandarin oranges.

All of this frenzied activity will be worth it after CNY starts Wednesday evening. CNY itself is full of visiting family, friends and neighbors, eating, wishing everyone a happy new year by saying "Gong Xi Fa Cai!", giving ang pow (money in a red envelope) to kids, more eating and exchanging news and mandarin oranges while eating. Leo and I will be spending CNY Eve with the neighbors. On the first day of CNY we will visit Leo's older relatives in Singapore. On the second day the older relatives will visit the younger. On the third and fourth days we will go visit friends. For all of you who I won't be able to visit this year: May you have a happy and prosperous New Year! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

The difference between Seattle and Singapore

2008-01-29T21:51:00.000+08:00

Seattle and Singapore are two of my favorite cities in the world. They have several similarities: both are very green and have large Asian populations among other things. This picture illustrates one major difference. And no, your eyes aren't deceiving you. These Birkenstocks have sparkly stones and feathers on them. I can't imagine any Seattle shoe store selling Birks like these.

A seemingly impossible dance performance

2008-01-20T15:32:00.000+08:00

This is a moving video from a dance competition in China. The dancers, Ma Li and Zhai Xiaowei, perform beautifully and athetically despite the fact that she has only one arm and he only has one leg. My mother sent this link to me. She got it from a friend of hers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnLVRQCjh8c

Zorro the hunter

2008-01-08T21:07:00.000+08:00

These pictures show how Zorro usually looks. He sleeps all day to store up energy for night hunting sessions. Usually these hunting sessions involve carefully watching birds far beyond reach or batting around his toy fish. Last night, however, he got a cockroach out into open, toyed with it for a half hour, pounced on it for the final time and ate it. What an attack cat! I fussed over him for another 30 minutes so he'd know killing cockroaches is a great way to get exercise between naps.

New glasses

2008-01-06T17:08:00.000+08:00

My much loved pair of chunky purple glasses broke across the bridge. For my new pair, I thought that I would completely break with the past and get rimless ones. There are almost like not wearing glasses at all. In fact, I'm so used to having the purple around my eyes that I feel like my eyes look naked with the new ones on. Leo likes them though because it is easier to see the color of my eyes.

Sightseeing in Malaysia and Singapore

2007-12-31T16:05:00.000+08:00

While waiting for my wedding photos, I'll show you some photos from the places we took everyone sightseeing. You can check them all out by clicking on the photo albums link on the left. They're in the file labelled "Wedding trip with family and friends".

The first picture is of Hartleigh at the Jurong Bird Park in Singapore. She volunteered to be the perch for a vulture.

The second one is of my friend, Sara, demonstrating how her boyfriend's nephew will enjoy playing with his new Christmas present.

This Sara at the Cultural Village near Kuching in the Borneo part of Malaysia. It's like a homestay where tourists can stay in the traditional houses of the Borneo aborigines. A few people of each group also stay there to run the homestays and answer questions about how their people live. If you ask the right questions, it can be really interesting. The tattoo uses a traditional design of the Melanyu people (I think). It made Sara feel very fierce even after it washed off.

Here's Mom, Dad, Leo and I on a traditional bridge at the Cultural Village.

One Wedding photo (more to come later!)

2007-12-28T09:48:00.001+08:00

Many of you have been asking about the wedding photos. We haven't got them back from the photographer yet, but here is a a preview from the Kuala Lumpur reception. From the left, there's Hartleigh's friend Arania, my sister Hartleigh, the bride Dara, the groom Leo and Hartleigh's husband Andrew. The picture was taken by Arania's fiance, Terence. Thanks Terence for sending us the picture!

Photos of my Singapore apartment

2007-11-04T13:13:00.000+08:00

Here are some photos of my Singapore apartment. It's still a bit bare but my mother sent me my pictures and rugs that I have collected through my travels. Over the years I have found quite a few things that I liked well enough to imagine them in my home, but I had never found a place I liked well enough to go to the trouble of sending for them. Singapore, however, fits most of my requirements.

Socialism can rock!

2007-10-29T21:36:00.000+08:00

I was reading my October edition of The Atlantic when I came across the name The Correspondence Publishing Committee. It was in a review of a book about cricket (and many other things) called Beyond a Boundary by CLR James. James was a cricket buff, Marxist, black activist, Pan-Africanist and a lover of literature. He founded two Marxist splinter groups: the Johnson-Forest Tendency, a faction of the Socialist Workers' Party, and the Correspondence Publishing Committee, an off-shoot of the Workers' Party. As the author of the article, Joseph O'Neill, pointed out, the first sounds like the name of a bad rock band and the second sounds like the name of a cool rock band. Both are catchy and have an element of meaninglessness, but The Correspondence Publishing Committee is snarky. It sneakily jibes at the meaninglessness of most committee work. If there is anything rock-and-roll is against, it is committees.

Meet Zorro!

2007-10-06T11:48:00.000+08:00

Unfortunately, Lumos has returned to the SPCA. He was a very noisy cat, much too noisy for a person who lives in an apartment. He has now been adopted by someone else and I hope that he has happier now.

Leo and I went back to the SPCA last weekend to try and adopt another cat. Leo fell in love with Zorro above. He's a big muscular cat, definately a hunter. Every evening he pounces on the geckos and bugs which come in through the windows. He's much mellower than Lumos. He usually likes to postion himself somewhere with a good view and keep his eye on everything around him. Leo, especially likes his mouth. It curves upward more than other cats, which gives him a very cheerful expression.

Chinese Lion Dance

2007-09-02T10:14:00.000+08:00

Bloger just added a new feature: showcasing videos. I've tried this before on other sites. After a week or so, the video would no longer work. We'll see what happens with the Blogger version.

I shot this in 2006 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. There's a sizable Chinese community in the capitol. This a short portion of one of the best lion dances I have ever seen. Lion dances are usually part of Chinese New Year celebrations. The dance cleanses places of bad luck and invites good luck. Here the lions are reaching for the ang pow (a red envelope with their payment).

New addition

2007-08-19T09:47:00.000+08:00

Meet Lumos -- the newest addition to my Singapore home. He's a 4 year old male cat, although as playful as a kitten. His name is from Harry Potter. Wizards say "Lumos" when they want their wand to become a light. He really reminds of light with his ginger coat, big lanteru-like eyes and light-hearted personality. He's also a true Asian cat. His tail ends in a ball rather than tapering like most Western cats.

For the past several years I have felt like I was camping in my various apartments. I always knew that I'd be moving on in a year or two. Singapore is the first place where I have felt at home. Lumos's purr is a confirmation of that.

Photos from Bali

2007-08-05T12:44:00.000+08:00

Here are the pictures from my trip to Bali last May/June. Follow the link at the bottom to see them all.

Teaching the children there was an entirely different experience. They were motivated to learn English because they wanted to communicate in it with people that spoke that languge. Most people say they want to learn English for that reason, but their more immediate goal is to score high on an exam, enter a prestigious school or get a promotin at work. English lessons are usually centered around a topic that assumes the students know about the world outside the their immediate experience or have free time. So a lesson might be about current events, favorite books, cultural differences, dream vacations, hobbies or pets. The school children in East Bali knew only about life in their village. They might have only once been to the district center. The district center would be conidered a village by most people in the world. They spent most of their time helping their families survive. Everyday they would haul drinking water, collect grass for the cow, weed the garden, collect firewood, mind younger children, etc. They didn't have the free time that most young people have. They don't really have their own possessions; they share everything with their brothers and sisters. They don't have the time to devote to a hobby. All the animals in their homes have a utilitarian purpose. Most available materials aren't suitable because they assume the children know who are Shakespeare and Gandhi, about being in a cafe, have bought something in a department store, etc. This made an interesting challenge to build the lessons and materials around a topic that would be relevant to them and not require too much explanation from the teacher.

Bali

Reception Venues

2007-07-14T11:09:00.000+08:00

The top two photos are of Tamarind Springs Restaurant where we will have the Kuala Lumpur reception on December 9th. The restaurant is surrounded by green jungle on almost all sides which gives it a wonderful intimate feeling. It's also on a hill and open to breezes so it stays cool naturally rather than exposing people to air conditioner drafts. The menu is Indo-Chinese rather than Malaysian. The restaurant has consistently won awards and is ranked in the top 100 in KL.

The bottom picture is where we will hold the reception in Kuching on December 8th. It is a gallery in the parish hall of the church where we will hold the ceremony. We chose this spot because it is pleasant, casual and also convenient for the older members of Leo's family. The food here will be more Malaysian. We'll definately have some Kuching delicacies such as, seafood, fish and wild fern salad.

Getting fit at the National University of Steps

2007-07-11T15:10:00.000+08:00

A popular name for NUS around campus is the National University of Steps. The campus is situated over a series of hills. All of the buildings on campus go up and down to accomodate the terrain. Many of my classes next semester will be in the Faculty of Engineering. They have about 10 buildings all linked by covered walkways and staircases. It's a bit like an MC Escher painting. Today I went looking for the discussion room I'll be using for tutorials. I went up some stairs that climbed a hillside to the engineering canteen on the ground floor of one building. I went out the other side, up some more stairs and ended up on the 4th floor of Engineering Building 1. After going along an outdoor walkway, I ended up on the 6th floor of Engineering 1A. Down another a small flight of stairs and I found a cafe on the 2nd floor of Engineering 2. I gave up looking for the classroom by myself and stopped to have lunch. On the way back, I got lost and went up and down 4 more flights of stairs to reach my office out-of-breath.

In Malaysia, I drove almost everywhere because buildings are spread out like in the US and there are seldom sidewalks or other safe places to walk. My first week here in Singapore felt like the first few days of a backpacking trip -- my feet swelled, blisters developed, knees ached and I was often winded. Now during the second week, my muscles and joints are no longer complaining and I'm not as often out-of-breath. The National University of Steps is making me fit after the soft life in Malaysia.

Wedding Dates and Venues Finalized

2007-07-05T10:16:00.000+08:00

On my last weekend in Malaysia, Leo and I finalized our wedding dates and venues. Here's the low-down for all of you who are planning to fly in.

December 4th Leo and I fly to Kuching for the wedding rehersal and registration.

December 8th 11:00am wedding ceremony at St Joseph's Church in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia with a lunch buffet afterwards in St Joseph's Gallery.

December 9th evening reception at Tamarind Springs restaurant in Ampang, Selangor, Malaysia. Ampang is a suburb of Kuala Lumpur, the capitol.

If you would like to come earlier or later and visit with us, arrange your tickets so you fly in or out of Singapore. My new apartment has 2 spare bedrooms, so you are welcome to stay with us.

Moving! New Job!

2007-06-22T10:12:00.000+08:00

There has been a lot of changes in the past few months -- getting engaged in April and at the end of this month, I'll be moving from Malaysia to Singapore to take a new job. I'll be working at Singapore's National University(NUS). It's been ranked among the top 20 universities in the world by The Times of London and among the top 3 in Asia by Newsweek. I have always wanted to work in a university, but it is often very difficult to get the first job. Three years at NUS should open many doors for me.

I will be a lecturer there at the Centre for English Language Communication (CELC). Most of my students will be non-Singaporean undergrads and graduates who have enough English to pass NUS's initial exam but not enough to earn a degree in their disciplines. The Centre also hosts conferences and publishs a journal. So, there will an opportunity for me to continue to conduct research and perhaps get published again. I start at CELC on 2 July. If you would like to see more about where I will work, you can look at the NUS website at www.nus.edu.sg/celc.

Being in Bali

2007-06-03T13:57:00.000+08:00

I'm on a sort of working holiday during the school break in Malaysia. A friend of mine has done volunteer work here for the East Bali Poverty Project for the past 3 years. EBPP works with a group of very isolated hamlets on slopes of one of the biggest volcanoes on Bali. The Indonesian government didn't know of the hamlets' existence until the late 1990s. As a result, the people there had no schools, health care or access to the outside world. Some hamlets had an almost 50% infant mortality rate and a high rate of mental retardation. The mental retardation was mostly caused by iodine deficiency. The people grew only corn and cassava. Cassava hinders the body's ability to absorb iodine.

EBPP has been showing the villagers new farming techniques to prevent erosion, irrigate and fertilize organically. They have also introduced new crops such as tomatoes, spinach and potatoes. All of the children and women of child-bearing age receive iodine supplement tablets and they have been educating the villagers about bacteria, parasites and how to prevent them. The villagers also had trouble with water. In the rainy season there was too much and in dry season there was too little. They built a series of reservoirs to store and manage it. You can see more of their work and projects on their website at http://www.eastbalipovertyproject.org/.

Some of the villages requested EBPP to set up schools for the children since the nearest ones were a 3-4 hour walk. The children have 1 hour a week for English and this is where I am helping the foundation. The children have such little knowledge of the outside world that most of the English teaching resources available wouldn't be suitable for them. The children don't know about modern conveniences such as TV or telephones. They don't really understand concepts like hobbies or occupations. Nobody in their village has the time or resources to devote to hobbies and everyone they know is a farmer. The villages and the foundation wants them to have some knowledge of English so that the children can communicate with foreign donors, fill out forms and read simple things such as an instruction pamphlet or the directions on a bottle of medicine. My plan is to help the education team plan a syllabus to organize what the children should be learning over an extended period of time and to help them make their own textbooks and other classroom aids.

So far, it has been very interesting to think about ways the teachers can overcome the special problems they face in the villages. So interesting that I don't mind missing out on the typical tourist activities here on Bali.

Holiday on Redang Island

2007-05-19T11:05:00.000+08:00

At the end of April, Leo and I took a 4 day holiday to visit the east coast of West Malaysia, specifically we headed to Redang Island off the state of Terengganu. We left after lunch on a Sunday for the 4-5 hour drive. It actually took us much longer because of a heavy downpour that slowed traffic near Kuala Terengganu (KT). KT is the capitol of Terengganu, which is considered part of the Malay heartland and is one of the more conservative states in Malaysia. We checked into a budget hotel in the center of town and after we dried off we set out to sample the seafood and see what kind of nightlife KT offers. In an essentially dry state, the nightlife consists of sitting in cafes until late drinking coffee or tea and snacking. The rain and the fact that Sunday in Terengganu is the first working day of the week didn't keep people at home.

The next day we woke up early to catch the boat to Redang. The seas were choppy and the sky overcast. The weather would hold for our entire trip, making this the one snorkeling vacation that wouldn't send me home sunburned. Our resort was a budget one -- clean but without too many amenities. We spent most of our time snorkeling -- going out once on the first day and twice more on the second day. The seas there were full of fish. We rented an underwater camera the second day and you can see some of the photos if you click on photo albums under Links on the side bar. There was much more than you can see in the pictures. It was difficult to keep the camera steady in the waves so many of the pictures came out blurry. The third morning at Redang we caught the boat back to the mainland after breakfast.

We took the inland highway back which cut through small villages and oil palm plantations. Cows, chickens and monkeys wandered along the sides of the road. We stopped frequently to sample and buy some local delicacies, such as keropok (chips made from fish, prawns or squid) and dodol (a taffy-like sweet made from brown coconut syrup). We also stopped for lunch at a roadside stall. There were several fire department vehicles parked along the road there. We figured if the place was popular with the local fire department, it would do well for us. It served very traditional Malay food and proved to be one of the best meals of our entire trip. The girls running were unaccustomed to serving many white tourists. I think they were surprised that I could not only eat Malay food but that I cleaned my plate. We arrived back to Bentong in mid-afternoon. I had only two working days until the weekend. My relaxed post-beach holiday state made those two days seem like nothing.

Santa Singh

2007-05-10T17:10:00.000+08:00

One of my good friends here in Bentong died last month. He and his wife, Anthea, were some of the first friends I made. I met them almost accidentally in a coffee shop the first week I was in Bentong. They invited me along to their Sunday evening Scrabble game at Ted Miles' house, another friend. I have been playing Scrabble almost every Sunday ever since. Santa almost always got both v's and at some point in the game would have an excessive amount of vowels. Santa was a very kind man. He was a peacemaker who smoothed out other's rough edges or bridged gaps of misunderstanding. Ted, Anthea and I still play Scrabble every Sunday. I'll remember Santa whenever we sit down together, especially whenever I draw 2 v's or 3 i's.

Save the Date!

2007-04-21T10:55:00.000+08:00

Leo and I have set a date. We are going to get married on the 8th of December at St Joseph's Church in Kuching. For those of you outside Malaysia, that's in Sarawak, East Malaysia. You might know East Malaysia better as Borneo. Malaysia shares Borneo with Indonesia. It has the most interesting architecture of any church I've visited in Malaysia so far. It is also very big. Plenty of space for everyone, please come if it is possible.

Getting Married!

2007-04-16T16:53:00.000+08:00

Early on the 1st April, Leo proposed to me. That evening we had gone out to dinner with a friend and then taken her to the airport. When we got back to Leo's apartment, it was very late. I was doing the usual things one does before going to bed, when I turned around and saw Leo kneeling on the floor and holding a ring. Although we had discussed getting married before, he took me by surprise. I, of course, said yes. We are planning to get married in December in Kuching. Kuching is Leo's hometown and the capitol of Sarawak, a state in East Malaysia. We do not have many details yet, but I will let my friends and family know the precise date as soon as possible. I hope that you will be able to come. Kuching is a very multicultural city -- Malays, Chinese and indigenous people all have very vibrant communities there. If it's possible, reserve a few days just to see the area. I know not all of you have met Leo so I'm attaching a picture of us.

2007-03-12T17:26:00.000+08:00